The news of at least $400 million in extra revenue postponed votes on the $28.6 billion state budget until next week, and prompted a giddy response from Democrats who had reluctantly trimmed the popular rebates in Corzine's re-election year.

Full Star-Ledger coverage of the N.J. budget"I want to convey in the strongest possible terms my commitment to using these recovered resources to provide middle-class homeowners with much-needed property tax relief," the governor said.

Along with reviving rebates for households earning up to $75,000 annually, lawmakers want to restore property tax deductions on state income taxes next year for households making up to $200,000, said Assembly Budget Committee chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden). The proposed budget calls for eliminating property tax deductions for those making $150,000 or more and eliminating rebates for all but seniors and the disabled.

With more than 17,000 payments yet to be processed by the Treasury Department, the final take from the amnesty program may reach $700 million, the highest in state history, Corzine said. The six-week initiative, which ended June 15, was projected to bring in $200 million.

"It surprised him as much as it surprised us," said Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who learned of the windfall from Corzine on Wednesday evening. "It changes the dynamic."

Republicans -- who have spent months assailing Corzine's recession-starved budget as an attack on the middle class -- immediately blasted the move as an election-year gimmick.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie accused Corzine of "haphazard governing," while Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) called the announcement a "Hail Mary" stall tactic to give Senate Democrats time to marshal votes for the spending plan. Codey said that was not the case, but at least three Democratic senators -- enough to block the bill -- expressed reservations about voting for the budget.

Corzine's announcement at a late morning news conference triggered a whirlwind of activity at the Statehouse, where a bevy of lawmakers and lobbyists had gathered in anticipation of a politically charged budget debate stretching late into the night.

Instead, legislators postponed votes on other bills linked to the budget -- including those enacting targeted tax increases -- until next week. The new revenue will be incorporated into the budget proposal before the Senate and Assembly budget committees meet Monday, and a final vote will come Thursday, still ahead of the June 30 deadline, said Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden).

Echoing Corzine, Roberts said property tax relief should be "the primary focus, if not the exclusive focus" of the amnesty money. All members of the Democratic-dominated Assembly are also up for election this year, and Roberts said his caucus broke into applause when they heard news of the windfall this morning.

The governor's campaign staff, meanwhile, fired off an e-mail blast and posted an online ad touting the development as evidence of his leadership amid the economic crisis.

The state spent $2.2 million on an advertising campaign urging deadbeat taxpayers to settle up, waiving penalties and half the interest owed on unpaid taxes for returns due from 2002 and this February. As of today, officials said the amnesty program collected $617 million -- 56 percent of it from corporations.

Roberts and Greenwald could not say today how much the restored rebate checks would be.

Corzine's original budget proposal called for preserving rebates at last year's levels for seniors, the disabled and those making less than $50,000 a year. Households earning $50,000 to $75,000 a year would have received two-thirds of the rebate they got last year. But dramatic revenue drop-offs last month led Corzine to propose eliminating rebates for all but seniors and the disabled.

Restoring rebates to homeowners making up to $75,000 and deductions to those earning up to $200,000 would cost a combined $560 million, Greenwald said.

Codey said he does not want to see the revised budget bill contain any spending increases outside of the additional property tax rebates and income tax exemptions. He acknowledged the money disrupted the momentum of a hard-fought budget and invites problems by posing a tantalizing pool of cash for lawmakers and special interests.

"That's our fear. We can't allow that to happen," Codey said. "It's Christmas in June, but it also upsets the apple cart."

Corzine, too, warned "special interest groups" not to expect new funding and lawmakers not to try to use any money for special projects for their districts, commonly referred to as "Christmas tree items."

"Today is June 18, not Dec. 25," Corzine said. "We will not be buying a Christmas tree."

But that didn't stop lobbyists from trying.

"This will set off a scramble from a lot of groups to get funding restored and taxes eliminated,'' said Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.